Pasadena gun trafficking investigation triggers lead

KRISTI NIX

Published 11:16 am, Thursday, May 1, 2014

A possible clue to the whereabouts of a powerful Mexican drug kingpin linked to the 1985 kidnapping and murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent was discovered during a recent investigation into an illegal gun trafficking operation with ties to the Texas-Mexico border, according to federal court records.

At the center of the story is a Pasadena man who endured a nightmare of threats and intimidation after a visit to Matamoros to attend his grandmother’s funeral last May. During his visit, he told special agents he was approached by a man named “Quintero” who asked him to set up a “stash house” for drugs in Houston in return for $1,000 a month. The man said he refused the offer.

But during a visit to Brownsville three months later, the man said he was stalked and cornered by three men claiming to work for “Quintero,” who they said had a message for him. According to court records the message was “that he was going to start working for them buying guns or something was going to happen to his son in Mexico.”

A few days later, a Brownsville man later identified as 38-year-old Rosendo Padilla Jr. showed up at the man’s Pasadena apartment with $3,000 and told him to buy AR-15s and AK-47 guns for $600 to $800 a piece.

After the assault rifles were ready to go, the man was told to drive to Brownsville and wait at the Palace Inn or the Motel 6 for the weapons to be picked up.

The frightening story came to light during an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after a Zastava AK-47 purchased in Pasadena was seized by police in Mexico. The weapon was traced back to the Pasadena man. Court records do not reveal the man’s name. But, on February 14, an ATF agent and Houston Police Department investigators sat down with the man, who had been questioned and taken into custody on an unrelated outstanding warrant charge.

The man told officials how he had been drawn into the gun trafficking operation and reportedly confessed to purchasing somewhere between 50 to 80 assault rifles from gun stores in the Houston area. The man reportedly said that between December 2013 and February 2014 he made five trips to deliver tens of thousands of dollars worth of guns to Brownsville.

The man was able to identify Padilla Jr., who had been convicted on felony charges of Harboring Certain Aliens within the United States in 2008, from a photo line-up.

ATF agents continued their investigation and on March 27, Padillo Jr. and another suspect were arrested with several assault rifles following a sting at a storage facility in Pasadena.

Padillo Jr. was arrested felony charges of Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. The second suspect was questioned and later released. Based on the evidence, Parillo Jr. was arraigned and indicted on April 23 on new felony charges of Unlawful Transport of Firearms. Padillo Jr. is expected to appear in federal court in the coming weeks.

Calls from the Pasadena Citizen to the U.S. Attorney’s office were not returned asking if investigators suspect the case has ties to Mexican cartels or drug kingpin Caro Quintero, whose whereabouts are still not known.

Currently, a $5 million reward is being offered for Caro Quintero, 61, who is wanted by both the International Police (Interpol) and the U.S. authorities.